Altitude: Sea Level-1900m (Portugal up to 300m)Flight Period: April-October-Multivoltine,depending on location and conditions: First brood generally produce low numbers.Habitat: Hot,Dry sparsely vegetated areas: Dry Gullies or River beds: Cultivated areas: Usually found in Mediterranean coastal areasOvum: The ovum is cylindrical in shape and is coloured yellowishLarva: The larva feeds on Thistle of Gold SCOLYMUS hispanicus and RiceORYZA sativaObservations: In Alvor on the western end of the Portuguese Algarve my only encounters with this butterfly was within the grounds of my hotel where one year I found it adjacent to a Lantana bush on a concrete path that led to the coast.It was a very twitchy butterfly that would take to the air before a photo could be taken but almost instantaneously would return to the same location.The following year I found one on the other side of the same hotel grounds adjacent to the garden rubbish tip where it settled on the chalky stone on a dry path shown in the photos below where eventually after numerous attempts it stayed a while.I did not find this a butterfly one that could be searched for, but just merely encountered, which might explain some of the difficulty in identifying its larval food plants in Europe although Thistle of Gold and Rice has been identified.

The butterfly is very sensitive to agricultural and urban expansion,especially in the lowlands and the abandonment of such helps in the monitoring of the species in known populations.

Larval Food Plants Worldwide The Larval food plant in Europe is not recorded.

Note -Plants hyperlinked in red below take the visitor to the relevant plant page on"Plants for a Future" website
where further information like photos,physical
characteristics,habitats,edible uses,medicinal
uses,cultivation,propagation,range,height etc. are clearly listed.

Plant Families - in bold red below takes the visitor to the relevant"Lepi-plants"page where other butterflies & moths using the plants below are listed.